Pension payment for April: Retirement fund body EPFO on Tuesday said it has disbursed a total of Rs 764 crore to 65 lakh pensioners for April under its pension scheme.
“EPFO has 65 lakh pensioners under its pension scheme. All 135 field offices of EPFO processed Pension payment for April 2020 in advance to avoid inconvenience to pensioners on account of nationwide Covid-19 lockdown,” EPFO said in a statement.
EPFO officers and staff battled all odds to send ₹764 crores to all Nodal Branches of the pension disbursing banks throughout India, it said. All bank branches have been directed to ensure credit of pension in the accounts of pensioners on schedule.
Timely credit of pension in this hour of need has been accorded topmost priority by the EPFO to bring succor to the pensioners during this pandemic crisis, it added. PTI KKS MKJ
Also, Around 8.2 lakh members of retirement fund body EPFO and private PF trusts have dipped into their savings and withdrawn Rs 3,243.17 crore to sustain in the lockdown imposed by the government to contain COVID-19. Earlier on March 28, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had allowed formal sector workers under its ambit to withdraw a non-refundable advance from their retirement savings to deal with hardships due to lockdown.
As on April 27, 2020, Rs 875.52 crore have been disbursed to 79,743 PF members as an advance for COVID-19 by the exempted PF Trusts under this scheme, with 222 private sector establishments disbursing Rs 338.23 crore to 54,641 beneficiaries, 76 public sector establishments disbursing Rs 524.75 crores to 24,178 beneficiaries and 23 cooperative sector establishments disbursing Rs 12.54 crores to 924 claimants, it said.
Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 count inched close to the 50,000-mark as the states registered 2,958 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The deadly novel coronavirus infected 49,391 in India. The death toll from the virus zoomed to 126 on Tuesday. Maharashtra reported the highest number of COVID-19 death on Tuesday, taking the total number of deaths in the country to 1,694.
